


Action

by MissjuliaMiriam



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Episode 69 spoilers, F/M, Gen, Introspection, The Author is Salty, sort of a tag to Episode 56
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 16:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8454298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissjuliaMiriam/pseuds/MissjuliaMiriam
Summary: Keyleth considers the state of affairs between her friends on the brink of a fight to the death, and her own place in how this shape of things came to be.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written on the basis of me being salty as fuck about Keyleth cockblocking Perc'ahlia in episode 56. Sorry. I love Keyleth a lot but that made me super irritated and I wanted to dig into it a little bit. What even is this, honestly.
> 
> My first CR fic, though! And almost certainly not my last. I'm not super happy with this but it demanded to be written and I figured I might as well post it.

Keyleth saw Percy headed for the door after Vex, saw the look on his face, and... it was selfish. It was selfish because she _was_ freaking out, and she felt unmoored and uncertain and every person who looked at her like a _hero_ made her panic a little more. She wasn't making that up. But Pike was there, and Vax, and even their new friend, Kerr, who seems wise, like he might understand. But she grabbed Percy's arm, ignored his protest, fell apart on him instead. Because the truth was that she didn't _want_ him to go to Vex when Keyleth was the one who needed him. She wanted to have him to herself. He's her best friend, and she didn't want to share him when she was the one having a crisis. She'd needed him and he'd been there and she'd grabbed him - not because she'd been unaware of the fact that he had wanted to go to Vex, but because she just hadn't cared in the moment.

Which. And here's the thing: there's not actually anything wrong with any of that. It's something she's tried to teach Percy, even. That it's okay to need your friends when you're upset, to go to them with your troubles. That there is nothing wrong with asking for help or reassurance. And, sure, he hadn't been very helpful, and he clearly hadn't wanted to deal with her - in hindsight - but she hadn't been outside of her rights to ask for his attention. And she _knows_ that.

It's just that, now, looking back, Keyleth... regrets it. Everything that had happened after, the big things and the littler ones, leading up to now. They're probably going to die - which, well, they've been _probably going to die_ for a while, but it feels more and more real all the time - and Vex had wept until it seemed she was going to cough her heart right out of her throat, and then she _had_ , heart's blood flowing through her lips where they pressed against Percy's as he laid there, still and growing colder, and then... and then _nothing had changed_. Percy is dazed, exhausted, and fucking oblivious; Vex is pale with grief even now that he's breathing again, and she's never going to say anything. Not anything he can hear, anyway. And it feels like maybe that was the moment for them to talk, or at least to create the space between themselves where a talk might fit, somewhere in the future, and Keyleth fucked it up for them. Selfishly.

She doesn't really know what to do now. Should she say something to Vex? No, it's probably not her place. She and Vex are friends, but Keyleth has never been one to bring something like this up with Vex. Then again, who else would? Vax can barely handle his own emotions, and never seems to notice much of what's going on with his sister lately anyway; Scanlan would surely be a dick about it; Pike would be _great_ but if she hasn't said anything yet she's not going to; Grog is Grog; and Percy, well. So that just leaves Keyleth. And she sure as shit can't say anything to _Percy,_ because if it's not her place to talk to Vex about it it's _definitely_ not her place to talk to Percy. Percy has no idea that anything's even happened, and though Vex's feelings are now clear, his are... less so. Some of the things he does, the way he looks at her, the things he says make Keyleth think that there might be something there, but Percy is private. He's intensely private, hoarding his own emotions like a dragon and protecting his secrets with cold viciousness and slippery avoidance when approached. So, what to do? Vex probably wouldn't be open to the conversation, Percy _definitely_ wouldn't, and it's... it's fucked up. Everything is fucked up.

She doesn't know what to do. She just has to hope that they'll sort it out themselves, and in the mean time, she'll make herself available, because they are, first and foremost, her family, and maybe she's fucked it up, made mistakes, and maybe she's not the person either of them most needs to speak to, but... she's someone. She's something. All she can do it try.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are welcome, as always!


End file.
